Sydney Denekamp | Staff Intern
West Central’s National Honor Society hosted the annual Miles for Murphy 5K on March 27. Despite event cancellations due to poor weather, the 5K had a successful turnout.
The Miles for Murphy 5K raises money for the Kier Murphy Scholarship in Kieron Murphy’s honor.
Alaina Murphy, the National Honors Society chapter president, led the organizing of the 5K for the first time this year.
“[Kieron Murphy] was my dad, so getting to lead that was kind of special,” said Murphy.
Kieron Murphy was a guidance counselor at West Central high school for 13 years as well as a volunteer firefighter. He died in 2014 at the age of 40 due to influenza A complications, leaving behind his wife, Robin, and his three children.
After having to cancel last year’s Miles for Murphy 5K due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joanne Bohl, the advisor for the National Honors Society, said the National Honors Society was thankful to be able to do the 5k this year.
“We have been planning this for a couple months. First, we came up with the idea… then we contacted businesses, created flyers and put it on social media,” said Aysia Hall, a National Honor Society member.
This year, the National Honors Society put more effort into getting the word out about the 5K than previous years. The group created a Facebook event, put up flyers, and sent West Central students home with papers about the 5K.
The National Honor Society had hoped to add a scavenger hunt to this year’s 5K, but rainy weather caused the scavenger hunt portion of the fundraiser to be cancelled.
There was also going to be a raffle for local business donations, but basket donations were instead used as prizes for the 5K winners.
Despite changes in the Miles for Murphy event plans, the 5K alone raised enough money to fulfill a scholarship and a half at $1,370. According to Bohl, the 5K had more than 60 participants despite wet and cold weather conditions.
“It is a noncompetitive event, and all donations are through free-will offerings. As always, the support this year from school and community was great,” said Bohl.
$1,000 of the funds raised at the 5K will be given to a scholarship applicant this year while the remainder of the money will go towards next year’s fund.
All West Central students are eligible for the Kieron Murphy Scholarship. The Murphy family asks that students write a one-page essay about something they went through and how they want to help others in the future. The Murphy family reads the essays and decides a winner. GPA is not considered in the decision.
The National Honor Society is hopeful that next year they will be able to include the scavenger hunt, along with the 5K, and look forward to hosting the event again.